1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a biosensor and method for determining an analyte concentration, and more particularly to a method for determining a concentration of an analyte, such as anesthetic, using a molecularly imprinted biosensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Based on different detecting mechanisms, conventional molecularly imprinted biosensors can be classified into different types of biosensors including optical biosensors and electrochemical biosensors. In the optical biosensors, a color reagent is required to be added into a solution to combine with an analyte in the solution for permitting optical detection of the concentration of the analyte. With a different detection mechanism, the electrochemical biosensors measure the electrochemical potential difference between electrodes to determine the concentration of the analyte without the need of using a color reagent.
Elodie Pardieu et al. “Molecularly imprinted conducting polymer based electrochemical sensor for detection of atrazine” Analytica Chimica Acta 649 (2009) 236-245, disclose an electrochemical electrode of a sensor capable of detecting the concentration of atrazine. The electrochemical electrode includes a platinum layer and a molecularly imprinted conductive polymer film formed on the platinum layer. In use, the electrochemical electrode and a reference electrode are placed into a solution containing the analyte, followed by performing cyclic voltammetric measurements so as to obtain a cyclic voltammogram for determining the concentration of the analyte. The conventional sensor is disadvantageous in that the material of the conductive polymer film is required to withstand the voltage, which is required to be sufficient to cause electrochemical oxidation-reduction in the solution, applied to the electrochemical electrode.
The entire disclosure of the aforementioned paper disclosed by Elodie Pardieu et al. is incorporated herein by reference.
The effect of anesthetic, such as propofol, to a patient depends on its brain concentration which is correlated to its blood concentration. Conventional detection of its blood concentration is normally conducted using liquid chromatography and GC-mass spectroscopy, which is complicated and time-consuming.